Our People and Faculty

PharmAchieve has quickly developed a stellar reputation for delivering high-quality training for the PEBC OSCE and MCQ. Our highly qualified instructors are passionate about teaching and committed to excellence.

Negeen Katirai, RPh, PharmD - Co-Founder, President, Lead OSCE and OSPE Instructor is a licensed pharmacist in Ontario, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts and completed her doctorate in Pharmacy at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia. She practices as a pharmacist at Mount Sinai Hospital (a teaching hospital affiliated with the University of Toronto), and prior held a "Senior Pharmacist" position at Brigham & Woman's Hospital (a teaching hospital affiliated with Harvard Medical School). In addition to her hospital practice, Negeen has held retail pharmacy positions in both Canada and the United States. As PharmAchieve's lead OSCE and OSPE instructor, Negeen has coached thousands of students for their PEBC exams.

Mark McIntyre, RPh, ACPR, PharmD - Lead MCQ Instructor and Lead EE Instructor is an adjunct faculty at the University of Toronto. He holds a Doctorate of Pharmacy from Rutgers University, USA (2004) and completed an Accredited Pharmacy Residency at Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto (2009). He is licensed in both Canada and the USA and is the Infectious Disease Management Lead at three leading Toronto hospitals. In addition, he has more than a decade of emergency medicine and retail experience in Canada. He supervises undergraduates, post-graduates and residents from the universities of Toronto, Waterloo and Colorado. In 2013 Mark received three awards from the University of Toronto including the Award for Teaching Excellence, the PharmD Preceptor of the Year Award and the Medical School's Excellence in Interprofessional Collaboration Award.

Lisa Burry, RPh. BScPhm PharmD - MCQ Instructor is an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto and practices ICU medicine as a Clinical Pharmacy Specialist. Lisa is an internationally recognized pharmacist with her academic papers cited in more than 450 publications. She is a reviewer or editor for 9 medical journals including the Cochrane Review, CMAJ, Pharmacotherapy and The Annals of Pharmacotherapy. She has been recognized in numerous awards and is a three time winner of the Canadian Society of Hospital Pharmacists' "Best Peer Reviewed Paper of the Year Award." She is a clinical preceptor to numerous BSc, MSc, Doctor of Pharmacy students and residents and brings a direct and engaging teaching style that displays her obvious passion for her field of practice. She holds a PharmD degree from the University of Toronto, and a BSc Pharm from Memorial University, Canada.

Elizabeth Leung PharmD BCPS AQ-ID - MCQ Instructor is a hospital pharmacist currently licensed in Ontario, Massachusetts and Illinois. Dr. Leung completed her PharmD in Boston, MA and her PGY1 general pharmacy practice residency and teaching certification in San Francisco, CA (UCSF). Dr. Leung completed two further years of residency in Chicago, where she specialized in both Infectious Diseases and Critical Care (Northwestern University, Rush University, Chicago College of Pharmacy). Dr. Leung currently practices as a Clinical Pharmacy Specialist Leader in Infectious Diseases/Antimicrobial Stewardship at St. Michael's Hospital, a University of Toronto teaching hospital. Dr. Leung is the co-lead of the Antimicrobial Stewardship Program (ASP) and an active member of its Research Ethics Board (REB). She supervises a variety of trainees including students, residents and fellows (both physicians and pharmacists).

Shirin Abadi, RPh, BScPhm, ACPR, MBA(c) PharmD - OSCE and MCQ Instructor is an Associate Professor of Pharmacy and an Associate Member of Medicine at the University of British Columbia. She is also a Clinical Pharmacy Specialist and Education Coordinator at the BC Cancer Agency in Vancouver. Shirin was the Past President of the BC Branch of the Canadian Society of Hospital Pharmacists (CSHP) and is also a CSHP national board member. Shirin has authored numerous studies is one of the authors of Therapeutic Choices for Minor Ailments. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in Pharmacy from the University of British Columbia, completed her Accredited Hospital Pharmacy Residency Program at Lions Gate Hospital and obtained her Doctor of Pharmacy Degree from the University of Toronto.

Murray Cutler, PhD - Lead Evaluating Exam Instructor is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Waterloo, School of Pharmacy where he teaches courses on pharmacology, pharmaceutics, pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics and drug development and has has received three nominations for graduate teaching excellence for his teaching of undergraduates, graduate students, nurses, physicians and pharmacists. He holds a Doctorate of Philosophy in Pharmacology & Toxicology from Western University, Canada (2010) and was awarded a Postdoctoral Fellowship for his work on pharmacology.

Mayce Al-Sukhni, PharmD - MCQ Instructor is is an Adjunct Lecturer at the University of Toronto and a pharmacist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Canada's largest mental health and addiction teaching hospital. In addition to her patient care duties, she is a Pharmacy Education Coordinator at CAMH and is responsible for supervising a number of education initiatives. Mayce and has been a preceptor to many pharmacy students and residents. She also routinely provides pharmacotherapy education to medical and nursing trainees. Mayce completed both her BScPhm and PharmD degrees at the University of Toronto, as well as a residency at ESI Canada.

Karen Ng, PharmD BScPhm ACPR - MCQ Instructor Karen Ng teaches pain management topics at PharmAchieve. She is the clinical pharmacist at Toronto Academic Pain Medicine Institute (TAPMI) which has partnerships with 5 academic hospitals, to deliver comprehensive chronic pain services. At TAPMI she provides consultative pharmacist services to referred patients with a focus on opioid management and stewardship. She is actively involved in precepting and teaching Pharm D students at the University of Toronto and has presented in multiple OPA conferences in the areas of migraines, chronic pain and opioid management. Karen completed her Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy at University of Toronto (2004), a pharmacy hospital residency at the Ottawa Hospital (2005), and her Doctorate of Pharmacy at the University of Toronto (2010).

Najat Abu-Halimeh, RPh, BSc, MPharm - OSCE Instructor acquired her BSc from the University of Toronto at 2003, and completed an MPharm degree from Aston University in England in 2007. She has worked as a staff pharmacist with several chain drug stores including Shoppers Drug Mart, Rexall and Loblaw prior to opening her own pharmacy. Prior to becoming an instructor at PharmAchieve Najat served as a Senior OSCE Assessor at PharmAchieve where she has coached more than 1000 students. Najat has a strong passion for teaching is frequently chosen by students in satisfaction surveys as one of their most favoured assessors.

Hooman Katirai, BASc, MSc, MScTP - Co-founder and CEO completed a three year traineeship at Harvard Medical School and two masters degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Hooman has served as a consultant to healthcare institutions including Shoppers Drug Mart, the Canadian Pharmacists Association (CPhA), Alberta Health Services, eHealth Ontario and the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care (MOHLTC). He has also served as the lead architect of five provincial healthcare projects with budgets ranging from $2 million to $70 million. Hooman was one of 5 consultants engaged by the Canadian Pharmacists Association (CPhA) to develop the digital strategy for their publications including Compendium of Pharmaceuticals and Specialties (CPS), Minor Ailments and Therapeutic Choices. Prior to PharmAchieve he worked in Consulting and Deals at PwC.

Shadi Vahman, LL.B, LL.M, BSc - Law and Ethics Instructor is a health lawyer and has served as a member of the research ethics review boards of Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and Toronto Rehab Hospital. She completed a Masters of Laws from Georgetown University specializing in Health Law, a Bachelor of Laws from the Queen's University, and a degree in Human Biology from the University of Toronto. Her legal practice includes the defense of healthcare professionals including doctors, pharmacists and nurses as well as healthcare organizations. She serves as a counsel member for one of Ontario's Regulated Health Professional colleges. She is also a member of the Ontario Bar Association Health Law executive and has represented her clients at various courts, tribunals and professional colleges.

Our Pharmacists

PharmAchieve employs more than 150 licensed pharmacists to serve as assessors across Canada. All of our assessors work in positions that require them to frequently counsel patients. Many of our staff have PharmD degrees; several are instructors at the University of Toronto's Faculty of Pharmacy or the University of British Columbia. Our team collectively has certifications in geriatrics, asthma, diabetes, COPD, neonatology and anti-coagulation. Many work at leading hospitals and retail organizations. Each brings together their unique expertise and passion for teaching the next generation to improve counseling.

Our Standardized Patients

Our more than 150 Standardized Patients are professional actors who also work or have worked for the standardized patient programs of local medical schools or government mandated health professional evaluation programs. We also sometimes use medical residents to pose as doctors. There are two different levels of Standardized Patients: those who can act as patients, and those who are also trained to give feedback. All of PharmAchieve's Standardized Patients are trained to give feedback. In satisfaction surveys PharmAchieve students consistently rate interaction with Standardized Patients as an highly valuable part of their learning experience.